Two-coordinate lock-out circuit



Jan. 30, 1968 E. J. H.' DE RAEDT ET AL 3,366,849

TWO-COORDI NATE LOCKOUT CIRCUIT Filed March 24, 1965 United States Patent 0 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A two-coordinate lock-out relay circuit for selectively interconnecting common circuitry to a plurality of individual circuits. The lock-out arrangement comprises a plurality of first single winding relays which are arranged in horizontal and vertical coordinates. These relays perform the interconnection. A common relay is provided which is associated with every horizontal coordinate. The lock-out is accomplished under the control of three contacts on the first relay and one contact on the common relay.

The invention relates in general to lock-out circuits and in particular to two-coordinate lock-out circuits comprising aplurality of relays and such that no set of two relays having a common coordinate can constitute a stable operated combination. A common relay is associated with each set of relays having the same coordinate in one direction. The common relay is connected to operate subsequent to the operation of any associated relay, thereby disabling the operating circuits of said associated relays. One of the associated relays is held operated through a locking circuit provided for said associated relays.

Two-coordinate lock-out circuits are known from an article of R. Legare and A. I. Henquet published in Commutation et Electronique, No. 5, November 1963, page 75 etc., and more particularly pages 87 to 89 together with FIG. 9.

The two-coordinate lock-out circuit may be used with advantage as a means to control the connection between one out of a first plurality of circuits and one out of a second plurality of circuits. In tele-communication exchanges for instance, one plurality of circuits may comprise m common circuits while the second plurality of 50 circuits may comprise n individual circuits, any of which may have to be connected to any of the m common cir- ,7 cuits. It may thus be desirable to establish as many as m simultaneous independent interconnections, assuming that m is smaller or equal to n. 5

A general object of the invention is to simplify the two-coordinate lock-out circuit defined above.

A related object of the invention is to provide a twocoordinate lock-out relay circuit having in common circuits which are available to be connected to any of n 60 individual circuits; wherein m separate connections may beindependently and simultaneously established. using mn single winding relays.

In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, relays having thesame coordinate in a vertical direction are interconnected in serial lock-out circuits. Each of the lock-out circuits involve two normally closed series circuits both controlled by said relays. One end of one series circuit is coupled to the other end of the other series circuit through a source of relay operating potential. Each of the relays is coupled through connecting means between two points of said series circuits in such a way that I only one relay out of those having the same coordinate in the vertical directionmay be held operated.

Serial lock-out circuits involving the connection of relays between two normally closed series circuits, usually constituted by chains of break contacts pertaining to said relays, is already known in the art. The use of such serial lock-out circuits involving two chains of contacts is particularly advantageous for the two-coordinate lock-out circuits since such circuits reduce the number of contacts necessary to perform the full lock-out function to only two contacts per relay in addition to that needed for the holding and lock-out function in the first direction. These are the two contacts involved in the two series chains. By the prior art arrangements, such as that described in the above article, the number of additional contacts per relay necessary to perform the full lock-out function is m1 and hence, depends on the number of circuits. In the present case on the other hand, the number of such contacts is wholly independent of the number of circuits. This means that the size of the interconnecting arrangement is not limited and that the actual relay involved in the two-coordinate lock-out circuit may also be used to perform the connecting function, since most of its contacts will be available therefor. In prior art circuitry, auxiliary relays are used to perform the connecting function. Moreover, in previously known two-coordinate lockout circuits each relay must be a two-winding relay; whereas this invention enables the use of single winding relays.

The above and other objects and features of the invention will be better understood from the following description of a detailed embodiment of the invention to be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing which represents a two-coordinate lock-out circuit using a plurality of Imn relays each of which corresponds to a particular interconnection, as well as a set of In common relays.

It is assumed that there are in circuits of a first kind, such as common circuits, and n circuits of a second kind, such as individual circuits, so that any common circuit may be interconnected with any individual circuit. As many simultaneous connections are possible as there are common circuits, if m is smaller than n. These common and individual circuits are not shown, but merely the lock-out interconnections between the mn relays which as stated above, may also be used to perform the required interconnecting 'fiunction. Actually, only the detailed circuitry for one of these mn relays has been shown since any of these relays is operated in exactly the same way. This is also true for the m common relays and accordingly only one of these has been shown.

Thus, as shown on the figure, the two-coordinate lockout circuit involves mn identical circuits but only one of these has been shown in full detail, i.e. U together with the two end circuits on the same horizontal, i.e. U and U and also together with the two end circuits on the same vertical, i.e. U and U These last four units however are shown by way of blocks since they are identical to the unit U Each circuit unit such as U includes only one relay such as R with its contacts r -r as well as an operating contact s, which is normally open but which is closed when it is desired to actuate relay R. Finally a break contact p pertaining to the common relay P which is provided for the n circuit units U U Battery indicated by the arrowhead extends vertically from each of the n uppermost circuit units such as U through all the circuit units in the same column and through a break contact of the relay included in the unit, such as r with the'exception of the bottommost unit such as U Likewise, ground extends vertically from the lowermost unit such as U through all the other units in the same column, also through a break contact of each relay involved in that column, such as r for circuit unit U but with the exception of the uppermost circuit unit such as U In each unit such as U these two break contacts 1' and r may be coupled through the winding of the relay R in series with break contact p upon closure of the operating contact s.

Thus, if one or more, or all contacts s are closed simultaneously in one or more, or all units occupying the same column, a corresponding set of R relays will attempt to operate but only one of these will succeed. Assuming it is the relay R shown on the figure, the opening of break contact r will thus suppress battery from the units below U while the opening of break contact r will lead to the disappearance of an operating ground for the units above Uij. In operating relay R also closes make contact 1- and this will provide a locking ground for relay R through the break contacts (not shown) corresponding to contact r in the units on the left of U such as U At the same time, the displacement of the armature of contact r will prevent the locking ground originating at U from being provided to units such as U on the right of unit U Like contact r contact r is also a change-over contact and upon closure of the make contact r ground will be supplied to the horizontal connection, common for the n units from U to U for leading to the winding of relay P whose other end is directly connected to battery, indicated by the arrowhead. Responsive thereto common relay P will operate and the opening of its 11 break contacts p will interrupt the operating circuits for the associated R relays except for the R relay shown on the figure which will remain operated through make contact r Now that the relay R shown on the figure has been operated, it is clear that none of the other R relays having a coordinate common with that of the relay shown can be operated. But other of the mn relays R can be operated in the same manner as described above to connect another individual circuit with another common circuit.

Assume that the n contacts s corresponding to a same row and accordingly to a same common circuit are closed simultaneously in order to establish a connection between this common circuit and one of the 21 individual circuits. Any of the n unoperated R relays which corresponds to a vertical, i.e. to an individual circuit, in which the R relays are not operated, i.e. for which the individual circuit is thus available will be energized by the closure of its associated s contact. In view of the chain of break contacts r only the left-handmost R relay of the chain will be able to energize. By so doing it will close make contact r and thereby interrupt the locking ground starting from unit U Thus, while several R relays may simultaneously operate for a short instant, as soon as the closure of a make contact r has led to the operation of the common relay P, the latter interrupts all the operating circuits by opening its break contacts p and accordingly only that the left-handmost R relay will be held operated through its make contact r In general, it will be possible to tolerate such a short unstable simultaneous 0perated condition for the relays until one of them is finally locked operated either in one horizontal row or one vertical column. Otherwise, one must resort to l-out-of-n check circuits of the type described in the above mentioned article and by which a coupling relay which is operated as a helping relay subsequent to the operation of the lock-out relay, can only energize if it is the only one of its row to be attracted.

Although change-over contacts have been shown for r and r in the figure, it is clear that if desired, separate make and break contacts can be used. Make contact r might then supply a direct ground for the operation of a common relay P.

While the principles of the invention have been described above in connection with specific apparatus, it is to be clearly understood that this description is made only by way of example and not as .a limitation on the scope of the invention.

We claim:

1. A two-coordinate lock-out arrangement for use in selectively and simultaneously interconnecting ones of a plurality of common circuits to any of a plurality of individual circuits, said two-coordinate arrangement comprising a plurality of first single winding relays for accomplishing said interconnect arrangement in horizontal and vertical coordinates, a common relay individually associated with each of said horizontal coordinates and operated responsive to the operation of any of said first relays in said associated horizontal coordinate, lock-out means for assuring that only one of said first relays in any of said vertical or horizontal coordinates is stably operated at any time to affect said interconnection, and wherein said lock-out means are controlled only by said operated first relay and said associated common relays.

2. The two-coordinate lock-out circuit arrangement of claim 1 wherein each of said first relays have first and second break contact means individually associated there with, said first break contact means of each of said first relays in the same one of said vertical coordinates serially connected to form a first set of normally closed contacts, said second break contact means of each of said first relays in the same ones of said vertical coordinates serially connected to form a second set of normally closed contacts, means for connecting the uppermost contact of said first set to a source of relay operating power, means for connecting the bottommost contact of said second set to ground potential, individual make contact means in series with the coil of each of said first relays for connecting said relays between said first set and said second set, and above said break contact in said first set and below said break contact in said second set responsive to the closure of said individual make contact, whereby operating power is no longer available to the other of said first relays in the same vertical'coordinate with said operated first relay.

3. The two-coordinate lock-out circuit of claim' 2, wherein the second make contact of each of said first relays comprises a change-over contact means, means for connecting the make part of said change-over contact means to said common relay coil, means for permanently connecting the other end of said common relay coil to operating potential, whereby said common relay operates responsive to the operation of said operated first relay, and break contact means controlled by'said common re lay in series with each of said individual make contacts in the associated horizontal coordinate whereby operating power is no longer available to the others of said first relays in the horizontal coordinate having an operated first relay.

4. The two-coordinate lock-out relay circuit of claim 3 wherein a second set of change-over contact means is associated with each of said first relays, set of changeover contact means including said second make contact means, operated responsive to the operation of said first relay for establishing a hold circuit through said individual make contact to maintain said operated first relay in the operated condition contacts of said second change-over contact means in series with the winding of said common relay to establish an operate circuit therefor.

5. A two-coordinate lock-out relay circuit for interconnecting common circuits to individual circuits comprising a matrix of individual circuits arranged in horizontal rows and vertical columns, a common circuit associated with each row, lock-out relay means included in each common circuit, first and second normally closed series circuit passing through each of said vertical columns, connecting means for connecting the windings of said lock-out relays between said first and second series circuits, means for coupling one end of the first series circuits to the other end of said second series circuits through a source of relay operating potential, make means in saidconnecting means for energizing said lock-out relays through said first and second series circuits, common relay means in said comm-on circuits operated responsive to the operation of any of said lockout relays in said associated rows, relay contact means in said connecting means operated responsive to the operation of said common relay means for opening said connecting means, and further relay contact means operated responsive to the operation of said lock-out relays for operating said series circuits and connecting said operated lock-out relay between one of said vertical series circuits and a horizontal series circuit.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,594,389 4/1952 Bruce 17918 5 2,578,701 12/1951 Hecht 179-22 X 2,562,100 7/1951 Holden 17918 2,542,672 2/1951 Hecht 17918 MILTON O. HIRSHFIELD, Primary Examiner. m I. A. SILVERMAN, Assistant Examiner. 

